Tempting the taste buds - Indian and International cuisine for people who love food and cooking!!

March 19, 2009

Ramen Vegetable & Steak Stir-fry

I have loved noodles way back from when I can remember. Whenever we would go out to restaurants in India, my first choice always would be noodles. But I never waited around for restaurant trips to enjoy these. The Maggi noodles that we get in India was probably one of my favourite quick-fix food back home. My friends and I would come home from college, hungry, and quickly put together the delicious Masala maggi noodles and be transported to noodle heaven. Even now, they never fail to remind me that the next time I go home to India, I would have to make the noodles for our gathering, just for old times sake! ;-)

But in the US the flavors of Chinese food is markedly different from the Indo-Chinese versions that we were used to. I rarely enjoy the noodles available here (preferring fried rice more) but once in a while would long for the flavor of Indo-Chinese food. This recipe is one such making use of the very cheap Ramen Noodle Soup mix, creating a very distinct and flavorful stir-fried noodles. Those who long for the Masala flavors of Maggi would definitely love this. Make sure that you use the Oriental flavor of the ramen noodle which is what lends this dish the extraordinary flavor.

Eventhough the recipe mentions frozen veggies, I have used fresh carrots (slice thin at an angle), broccoli and white button mushrooms. Vegetarians can make the same stir-fried noodles without the steak which I guarantee would be just as good. Do try this out and let me know how it turned out!

I bought the Pillsbury Best of the Bake-Off Cookbook a few months back and have had my eyes on this particular recipe for some time. As soon as I get a chance, I would definitely try out more recipes from the book and share them with you.

Source: Recipe by Linda Morten, Pillsbury Best of the Bake-off Cookbook.

Tips:

I used fresh vegetables like carrots, broccoli and mushrooms for the stir-fry.

I didnt use water chestnuts because I am not crazy about them. I would believe green peppers would work as well as the red peppers, both of which I havent used for this trial. I also havent garnished with green onions.

The fresh vegetables can either be cooked either by boiling or in a microwave (which I did) - except the mushrooms.

Just reminding you that the deadline for Lets go nuts : Almonds being hosted right here on Tasty treats is March 31. So rush in your delicious entries with almonds to jz.tastytreats@gmail.com. Multiple entries are welcomed. I would love to feature recipes by non-bloggers too. So friends (you know who you are!!) send me your favourite recipes using almonds and a picture of the featured dish and I will include yours in the round-up as well.

Thats the best looking Ramen Noodles pic I have ever seen! The thing abt Ramen noodles here though is that the tastemaker contains beef extract so we cant use that. But in India, I switched my loyalty from Maggi to top Ramen :D

Thanks Srilekha, Skribles, EC and Trupti!

Thanks Vani, EC and Trupti

Thanks Trupti and Sireesha

Thanks Trupti and Sireesha!

Thanks Su and Ramya

Thanks Ramya

Thanks Ivy!

Humble beginnings!

I became a fan of cooking blogs when I came to the US because I suddenly found myself to be a home-maker with little knowledge of cooking and a lot of free time on my hands. After a couple of years and experimenting with a lot of food, I started thinking about my own blog!!! But doubting my writing skills, I have been pushing it back for some time. But with a bit of encouragement from one of my close friends and a boosting jolt from my husband, I decided not to wait any further. I hope that everybody will enjoy going through and trying out the recipes.

When I first started depending on the Internet for my cooking, I came across many wonderful recipe sites and cooking blogs!! One thing I realised is that since we are being offered a lot of different versions of a single recipe on the net, we will be more inclined to try out the recipes if we know that the recipe has passed somebody else's cooking test ! A picture of the dish will definitely go a long way to aid our decision. My objective with the blog is to post some of my original recipes along with the recipes from the net that I have chosen after trying out a few of the choices available. In the case of recipes taken from the other sites or books, the actual source will be posted along with the recipe, with the tips that I found to be useful. I sincerely hope that my blog will be a further incentive for everybody to experiment with the already popular dishes ! Please post your comments so that I can improve and evolve the blog into something which will help others who need a bit of inspiration for their cooking.